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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697493">Red Vines Through Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>El's nonexistent nonfics [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate interpretation of the Crimson, Animal Transformation, Blob Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Bombed thrice, Curses, Does it count as animal transformation if youre a blob??, Dream redemption arc, Gen, I rapidly seesaw between hating dream and liking him, Mind Control, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, no beta we die like l'manberg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:26:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,537</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697493</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The world had ended. </p><p>Scratch that, the known universe had ended, and it was because of something that crawled its way out of <i>Dream's</i> server. With spite and an aching loss powering his heart, he swore he would spend the rest of his days fighting against the Crimson cancer that had destroyed everything.</p><p>He hadn't considered that travelling through time and being cursed into the form of a little clay... blob... thing would be a possibility, however.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; Darryl Noveschosch, Clay | Dream &amp; GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream &amp; Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Might fuck around and have a romantic pairing later idk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>El's nonexistent nonfics [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>372</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Caught</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So one of the many ideas buzzing around in my head like bluebottle flies was this one, and I actually wrote a first chapter! Odds are still out on whether it'll be a fluff fix-it or an angsty one so I'll add those tags later.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>An arrow shot from behind him cut straight into his side, striking right through one of the gaps in his half-broken netherite armour that he hadn't had the time to repair yet, and he fumbled mid-jump, falling short of the branch.</p><p>Tumbling to the forest floor below, he curled up in a desperate, half-frenzied attempt to control his fall. He hit the ground with a painful thump and <i>snap</i> as the shaft of the arrow broke off, leaving the arrowhead impaled in his side lodged deep and <i>painful</i>. He stifled a yell.</p><p>Dream could deal with the pain. He'd have to, actually, because he could hear the rush of a pair of footsteps from behind, rapidly manoeuvring through the trees behind him, approaching his location.</p><p>He took off running in a sprint, or as close as he could come to one without unnecessarily aggravating his side, one hand pressed hard against it to slow the flood of <i>red</i> that flowed from it with every rapid pulse of his heart. He ripped away from the ground, feeling more than hearing the soft red roots that had been trying to curl around his ankles tear away from the leaf-littered floor where they sprouted. He'd definitely have to burn his boots if he didn't want them spreading to his latest hideout, like they had so many times before. Goddamnit.</p><p>"Oh Dreeaammm~" a voice called from the forest behind him, in the same direction he had heard the footsteps. It was familiar and mirthful and <i>wrong</i> in a subtle way that made his skin crawl. George. <i>'Fuck,'</i> Dream thought to himself, <i>'Just like old times'</i>.</p><p>What wasn't like old times, however, was the flying heeled boot that lunged out of the forest before him. It was of course attached to someone, someone that the small part of his brain not running on pure adrenaline and survival instincts recognised before it promptly started screaming curses out. The majority of his processing power, however, was going towards the voice in his head that had been the sole reason for his survival thus far, the one that was currently yelling <i>'DODGE DODGE <b>DODGE-</b>'</i></p><p>He collapsed forwards into an awkward roll, one that let him miss getting clipped by the kick, and ducked just low enough that he also avoided the swing of a shining black-purple blade that followed almost immediately afterwards. He had not seen the sword. He should have seen the sword. <i>Why had he not noticed that?</i></p><p>This entire debacle, Dream thought to himself, as he jumped forwards out of his roll and over a fallen branch, the sound of netherite-on-wood ringing out from behind him, would have almost certainly been far easier had he any golden apples, or healing potions. Because his side still <i>burnt</i> with pain, the spontaneous acrobatics not making it any easier- <i>and</i>, he realised, he was so out of it the thought of <i>poison</i> hadn't even occurred to him until now, <i>fuck</i>.</p><p>But in all honesty, with the condition he was in, golden apples would barely even this fight from- <i>'duck under another swing of Technoblade's sword, he's right in front of you, throw yourself backwards'</i> -from the <i>suicide attempt</i> it was right now.</p><p>He could faintly hear George approaching from behind, still calling out his name in a twisted parody of mock-playfulness, the same way he used to way back when he was the hunter and Dream was the prey, when they were enemies that hadn't turned to friends only to turn to enemies again- but his voice was drowned out by the dull roar in Dream's ears as his eyes tried and failed to focus of the larger threat before him. Definitely poison on the arrow.</p><p>Technoblade's form blurred before his eyes, and Dream's eyelids felt like they had lead weights attached to them, dragging them down-</p><p>-he jerked backwards with a flinch as Technoblade's sword cut straight up in front of his face, for what seemed like the hundredth time this night he threw himself backwards-</p><p>-only to collide against George, and feel what might as well have been an iron grip to his drugged and sluggish body grab his arms and wrench them behind his back. The thundering in his ears drowned out the words George was saying, and everything seemed to be underwater. He tried to jump forward, escape George's grasp, kick him, do <i>something</i>- but his body sagged as the full effect of whatever the arrow was coated in took effect. His own limbs betraying him. He might laugh, if he was able.</p><p>Technoblade stood in front of him, mask the shape of a boar's skull covering all signs of anything amiss, and with one eye pried open through sheer willpower Dream saw him raise his sword. This was- this was it, then.</p><p>It stung his pride, he realised, as everything seemed to go in slow motion. As Technoblade brought down his sword, aiming for his head. It stung that it had <i>only</i> taken two of them to finally get him. Never mind the fact that it was George and Technoblade. George, who had successfully tracked him down so many times before all on his lonesome, and then even more effectively with friends, Technoblade, who was likely the only person on the entire server that could beat him in a completely fair fight. Never mind the fact that his two hunters had the distinct advantage of being able to communicate with the fucking <i>cancer</i> that grew at the heart of his server, all of them could hear every single thing it felt, all of them knew every time he even so much as brushed up against those goddamn roots-</p><p>This never would have happened if he had just- if <i>they</i> had just listened to him. The sword was close. The sword was closer. The sword was-</p><p>Stopped.</p><p>Dream was barely lucid, slow acting poison flowing through his veins with every <i>beat-beat-beat</i> of his heart, but even he recognised the slight head-tilt Technoblade did whenever the hybrid was listening to someone speak. No-one was talking, not that Dream could count as entirely aware of his surroundings, but George was as still as stone behind him which could only mean the one who was 'speaking' was-</p><p>Technoblade sheathed his sword in one smooth motion, right as George shifted his grip on Dream, pulling Dream towards himself and lifting him up in a bridal carry, embarrassing as it was effective. Dream tried to hit him, push himself away so he could start running again, but could barely lift an arm. He was so tired. He was so...</p><p>tired...</p><p>Dream passed out, hands stained bright red, in the arms of someone he once called his best friend, something he had called him <i>after</i> he had hunted him but before all the betrayals and control. He passed out to the uncomfortable feeling of coagulating blood sticking his shirt to his side, and dread welling up in his chest.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Trapped</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>He couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe-</p><p>He had to get out.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Quality of writing rapidly swings around from 'bad'to 'worse' amirite</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Dream woke up, it was to the sensation of choking on what could barely be considered air. His body felt numb. He hacked out coughs that wracked his body until he was shaking, he spluttered out toxic air just as quickly as he tried to breathe in. With every breath he took he could feel something <i>foreign</i> enter his lungs, and with every choking cough he could feel the limited end-magics of an admin violently reject it before it could take root inside him. He tried to reach upwards to rip his mask off his face, so he could breathe without something covering his mouth, but with a growing panic he found that his arms were tightly bound behind him in something that felt eerily similar to the Crimson's roots. An attempted kick of his legs revealed the same lack of mobility was imposed upon his lower half. </p><p>He needed to get his mask <i>off</i> so he began to crack his head back and forth in whip-like motions that would definitely give him a sore neck later, to shake his mask loose and <i>away from his mouth, his throat burnt, he couldn't <b>breathe-</b></i></p><p>He felt his hood fall backwards as his mask rocked halfway up his face with a particularly violent shake of his head, and somewhere in the back of his oxygen-deprived mind he noted that that meant his vision was now obscured which was <i>really</i> bad but at least his mouth was free which meant he could take a breath unhindered-</p><p>Only for him to splutter out another cough, not nearly as bad as the previous ones, as it became clear all of the air in the room -or wherever the hell he was- was filled to the brim with the contaminants. He took a few more shuddering breaths, trying to get used to the uncomfortable and painful feeling of something clawing its way down his windpipe and his <strike><i>unwanted</i></strike> admin magic promptly clawing right back at it. He was unsuccessful.</p><p>Dream once again tried to pull his arms out of whatever prison they had been bound in, and it was only when he felt the roots lying over the skin of his torso get tugged along with the movement of the larger roots binding his arms that Dream realised he couldn't see. Not couldn't see as in 'I knocked my mask over my eyes to try and stop myself from choking to death on what is probably definitely Crimson spores' but rather couldn't see as in 'the entire upper half of my face is covered in roots'. He could move his head around, but he could feel the slight pull of the vein-like bindings pull slightly at his skin. He hadn't noticed, in his panic for oxygen.</p><p>This revelation was yet but another problem Dream tossed upon his tower of issues, the most glaring of which: <i><b>Why was he alive?</b></i> There was nothing for the Crimson to gain in keeping him alive.</p><p>When it became apparent all those months ago that the Crimson was a legitimate threat that Dream could not stop, he had set the world to hardcore, and had closed off all world travel. Nothing could exit or enter.</p><p>He'd done it far too late, however, because the last time he had received a message from any outside server it had been two and a half months ago, from the Hypixel main server itself. An automated message set up some time prior, to be sent out if <i>(when)</i> the 'red vine plague' finally overtook the biggest server in the known realms, informing people of said fact and warning them to keep away.</p><p>Since then, it had been dead silence, any messages he sent out had only come back with responses from clearly-infected players, corrupted text in messages giving them all away. Dream wasn't quite sure how he felt, his initial inaction being the main cause for the literal apocalypse.</p><p>But now, his act of sealing off the server likely meant little to nothing in the face of all the corrupted players and hackers and coders who could probably tear down the world barrier in two seconds flat, allowing the Crimson's source egg to have free range on the multiverse. Killing Dream permanently because of the the hardcore mode <i>he</i> had activated would only make it all the more easier, no 'active admin defense' and all.</p><p>So why was he still alive?</p><p>A sound rang out from what sounded to be several meters in front of him, the clanging metal of a slightly-damaged piston and shifting of stone alerting him to the fact that something- someone, was coming.</p><p>The noise of machinery stopped and once more Dream was plunged back into the limbo of bound limbs, covered eyes and choking air- right before he heard a slight footstep on the floor before him. He was probably going to die now, whatever reason he had been kept and taken here instead of cut down on the spot by Technoblade likely null and void, Dream braced himself for the inevitability.</p><p>What he did not expect, however, was the friendly call of "He-llo Dreeeam!" That rang out from only a foot or two in front of him. It was Bad. Dream knew where he was now, and it was probably the worst place for him to be in. He hoped he was wrong.</p><p>"Bad..?" he croaked, before he immediately began hacking on the air once more, all his effort needed just to breathe without passing out clearly couldn't cover speech.</p><p>"Oh, silly!" Bad exclaimed in a way that was so inviting and so <i>wrong</i>, it made a chill dash down Dream's spine. "Don't talk if you aren't able to, Dream, we're just here to see how you're doing." His tone sounded so concerned Dream might have believed it to be genuine, had he not known Bad was one of the first to succumb to the infection.</p><p>Wait. Bad had said 'we'. He wasn't alone.</p><p>Dream couldn't close his mouth to keep in in a neutral line, needing to use both it and his nose to even breathe in and out properly, but he tilted his head in faux-confusion, asking a silent question he dearly didn't wish the answer to.</p><p>"Oh!" Bad said, "that's right, you can't see us right now. Silly me. I was talking about myself, Ant, and... and George." There was a bitter note in his tone as he pointedly left a space in which he didn't mention Sapnap, and Dream's heart clenched slightly, but he couldn't bring himself to regret his decision. Even if they betrayed him and his friendship and his <i>rule</i> of the <i>his</i> server, none of them deserved a fate like this, of being puppeted by the crimson cancer. </p><p>He had killed Sapnap shortly after switching the server to hardcore. It was the right choice.</p><p>
  <strike>
    <i>("I'm so sorry, Pandas.")</i>
  </strike>
</p><p>Dream's mind stalled as the regret dissipated to a mild-but- growing panic. If both Bad and Antfrost were here, that must mean that here was close to the source, the Egg. Too close for comfort, <i>far</i> too close for comfort. He had to escape.</p><p>He clenched his left first where it was buried behind him under roots, trying to access the World Panels, glitched and risky as they always have been, to teleport himself <i>away</i> from here, no matter the cost and-</p><p>He felt the energy around his fist dissipate away into crimson sparks. He couldn't even see them, bound as he was, he just <i>felt</i> the colour.</p><p>Before him, Bad let out an affronted gasp, right before Dream was backhanded, <i>hard</i>, across the left side of his face, Bad's claws leaving slight scrapes as he was casually cruel in a way he never was before the Crimson- just one more thing that had changed.</p><p>"Don't do that!" Bad chided him in his 'you've-been-very-rude' tone, before stopping himself right as he was winding up to rant. He exhaled. "Look, Dream," he started, "I get you're stressed. I get it. But you don't have to worry! Everything is going to be just fine, you'll see."</p><p>Dream felt Bad step away from him, and wondered when he had gotten so close.</p><p>"We just came here to check on you. You'll be fine, you'll be better." Dream felt like Bad was talking to himself, at this point. "We just need to give you a bit of time, here, and when you're feeling better we can show you what you've been missing out on. It'll be fun, Dream!"</p><p>Footsteps were heading away from him, now. Back to where he suspected the door was. "We'll check up on you later!" Another voice called, slightly subdued. Antfrost. No more words were spoken and Dream heard the sounds of machinery working and stone shifting once again, leaving him alone with his thoughts.</p><p>He settled down, and opened his mouth slightly wider. It was still so hard to breathe, and he was so tired. What were they even planning to do to him?</p><p>Why were they leaving him here? He needed to r̴es͜t͠ and ̵th̨ink ̨on̨ ̸t͡h̵i-</p><p>He needed to get out. How did he get out? The C̷rim͠so͝n̨ was interefering with the admin magic that allowed him to open the world panels, so that was a no-go.</p><p>Th͢e͘-̵</p><p>The Crimson was interfering with his admin magic. The same admin magic that had saved him from getting infected, the Crimson was <i>stopping it</i>.</p><p>It was a testament to how still tired he was when he let out a slight gasp at that thought. The spores crawled down his throat and tried their damnedest to tear away at his being like they ha d been doing constantly, his magic rising up to halt them but-</p><p>Was it acting a slight bit slower, or was he just going ma͝d҉? Dream tensed.</p><p>He had to get out of here.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is all i had prewritten im going to be honest ill just work with a rough story outline from here</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Out</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>He gets out.</p><p>What now?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*whips*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nine-hundred and twenty-four seconds.</p><p>It had been nine-hundred and twenty-four seconds since Dream had been left to his own devices, as limited as they were due to the whole 'tied-up' situation. Fifteen minutes.</p><p>Nine-hundred and forty-one seconds.</p><p>Upod realising that the malicious magic in the Crimson spores that floated about the room was very slowly but surely overpowering his own admin magic that he, admittedly, didn't know how to fully use, Dream did something stupid. He did something that would make <strike>his friends</strike> people he knew pre-Crimson cuss him out for quite obviously doing something contradictory to his "giant IQ," and those same people post-Crimson cry to the heavens in thanks for this miracle.</p><p>Nine-hundred and seventy-seven seconds.</p><p>It had been nine-hundred and seventy-seven seconds since Dream had started to realise that the magic in the air was smart. It had been nine-hundred and seventy-seven seconds since Dream made the conscious and willpower-intensive decision to stop his natural magic from fighting off the Crimson.</p><p>Dream felt awful, head pounding with a vicious migraine brought on by holding his whip-sharp magic back, his lungs felt as if they had been scraped raw, and every muscle in his body was aching from the cumulative exhaustion of the past several days. He could feel the Crimson trying desperately to take root inside of him.</p><p>But just like he had stopped fighting it, it had stopped fighting him. It had lowered its defenses, likely to focus more heavily on conversion and assimilation.</p><p>It had been one-thousand and fifty-one seconds since Dream had started to realise that the magic in the air was smart. It had been ten seconds after that since he realised that he was smarter.</p><p>His magic was almost recovered now, fueled by desperation and hope. Shifting forward slightly, he would have noted how the vines around his limbs seemed to tighten as if anticipating what he was about to do. Not well enough.</p><p>Dream took in a breath, as deep as he could without choking on it, squeezed his eyes shut behind the roots covering them an d -</p><p>
  <i>F O C U S E D -</i>
</p><p>
  <b> ᒷ∷∷𝙹∷: ᒷ ̇/ℸ ̣ ∷ᒷᒲᒷꖎ|| ⊣ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑ᒷ↸ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ ⎓𝙹⚍リ↸ ╎リ ᓵꖎ𝙹ᓭᒷ !¡∷𝙹 ̇/╎ᒲ╎ℸ ̣ || 𝙹⎓ ⚍ᓭᒷ∷. </b>
</p><p>
  <b>ᒷ∷∷𝙹∷- ⚍リᔑʖꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ∷ᒷ!¡ᔑ╎∷ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ, ꖎ𝙹ᓵᔑℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣ ᓵꖎ𝙹ᓭᒷᓭℸ ̣ ᓭ||ᓭℸ ̣ ᒷᒲ ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷, ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ ⎓𝙹⚍リ↸.</b>
</p><p>
  <b>ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ ⚍リᓭℸ ̣ ᔑʖꖎᒷ - ʖ𝙹⚍リ↸. ⚍リꖎ𝙹ᓵꖌ╎リ⊣ ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ ↸╎ᒲᒷリᓭ╎𝙹リ.</b>
</p><p>
  <i>Waves of purple magic wrought hell upon glowing red, withering and corrupting-uncorrupting everything in the room. In the centre of the storm lay a man bound in dead roots, spasming in equal parts power and pain.</i>
</p><p>Dream gasped as the storm of magic finally dissipated, wincing in agony. Taking in a deep breath, he immediately doubled forwards and started hacking out coughs alongside <i>something</i> solid, hearing more than feeling how the sudden movement tore the now-brittle vines that bound him. He shuddered.</p><p>Lifting a hand to his face and tearing away at the roots that blinded him -now purple mottled with black instead of a vibrant red, he attempted to stand and proceeded to be extremely graceful in swooning, tripping over his own two feet, and landing face-first onto another now-purple root that was almost thicker than his torso. Fuck.</p><p>"Fuck." Dream cursed. If he couldn't even work his body right after using his magic like that, how the hell could he expect to escape? Where was he even trying to escape, actually, because he hadn't gotten all too clear of a picture during his fall down, and time was of the essence now that he had freed himself.</p><p>Pushing himself up with an arm that was slowly gaining a little strength back, a good sign if only it could hurry up, Dream blinked, bleary-eyed as he took in his surroundings. High walls and a ceiling made almost entirely out of crying obsidian, which was cracked with dead vines poking through the walls, hanging from high places and being a general plague throughout the room. Through the faint purplish haze that reminded Dream uncomfortably of a warped nether biome, his sluggish mind could swear that the room felt almost... familiar...</p><p>'Oh.' He realised.</p><p>'Oh no.'</p><p>------</p><p>
  <i>"What <b>is</b> this thing, Bad?" He asked.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dream already knew the answer. Well, he knew the answer that mattered to him most, anyway.</i>
</p><p><i>It was a</i> novelty<i>. This weird, giant, fleshy kill-me-red coloured <b>thing</b> was something that Dream, in all of his time travelling worlds, had never seen before.</i></p><p><i>Bad, two steps to his left and four behind him <strike>(Close enough to strike)</strike>, didn't speak. His friend had been uncharacteristically silent, tense ever since Dream had breezed his way down here into this odd little bunker with all the certainty of someone who owned the place. Because he did. His friend would have to get used to it eventually, it was</i> Dream's <i> server after all.</i></p><p>
  <i>Bad was still quiet.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dream twisted his head away from the weird red thing to stare his <strike>(hunter)</strike> close friend in the eyes. Blank, masked black met slightly-glowing white. It had always been difficult for Dream, or anyone really, to properly gauge Bad's facial reactions, seeing as the Demon man had the whole 'made of shadow' thing going on. Skeppy could, but that was because he was <b>Skeppy</b>.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>For some reason, Bad looked worried. Like he feared that Dream would take away his cool egg thing like he was someone that didn't care about his friends. Dream cared. He cared so goddamn much.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>(His server)</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Look, Bad-" Dream started, and Bad flinched at the mention of his name, like he had been shocked out of a trance, "I'm not going to take your egg thing. I'm not."</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Bad's shoulders slowly began to relax.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"All I'm asking-" The Demon tensed right back up, and by this point Dream was half-amused and half-annoyed, "-is that you tell me if anything weird happens with it." He was reasonable. He was so reasonable. He should check to see how Tommy is doing.</i>
</p><p><i>For a second, it almost seemed like Bad was going to say something. His mouth hovered open before he shut it with an audible</i> click <i> and nodded. "Sure." He spoke, standoffish, "I can do that."</i></p><p>
  <i>Dream stared at Bad. The usually chatty demon gazed back, almost blank faced, and Dream knew he had two options before him. He could push for information, pressure Bad into telling him what was making him act so weird, or...</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Or he could trust his friend. Something Dream hadn't been doing a lot of, recently.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>He nodded to himself, and ignored the quizzical look Bad shot him at the gesture, the most in-character thing the Demon had done since Dream had come down here.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>"Alright!" Dream said, punctuating the words with a sudden clap of his hands. "I'll head off then." He turned on his heel and began walking away, hearing nothing in the room save for his own echoing footsteps. Bad would be fine. He trusted him. </i>
</p><p>
  <i>As he reached the door, the green-clad man paused briefly, gazing back over his shoulder to where Bad stood. The Demon didn't spare a glance in his direction, too busy staring at the red... thing. Hm.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dream turned back towards the cold iron door and left.</i>
</p><p>------</p><p>Lips pursed in a tight line, Dream started to rip the excess vines off of his person as he unsteadily got onto his feet once more, the once-red roots still clinging to his skin like ivy.</p><p>
  <strike>(how badly had he fucked up?)</strike>
</p><p>At least he knew where he was now, which had both its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, he knew how to navigate the world outside the bunker, because it was the heart of the SMP, a place as familiar to him as the back of his hand. On the negative, well...</p><p>He was in the heart of the SMP, in the very room from where the Crimson was once sourced, (It was gone now, where had it gone?) which meant that outside this room the infection would still be extremely prevalent, the landscape would be changed to an unknown degree and <strike>his friends</strike> people overtaken by the crimson would be crawling out of the woodwork now that he had escaped.</p><p>But really, that only meant Dream had to work fast.</p><p>It was easy to locate the piston door that Bad and the others had used as an entrance, a two-by-two wall of stone that would have been handily concealed by hanging vines had the magic of an admin not caused over half of them to shrivel and rot off. There was even a slight crack in the middle that allowed Dream to peak into a lightless hallway, likely caused by the malfunctioning piston he had heard earlier. Something he could use.</p><p>Positioning himself atop or a large purplish vine that had hardened rather than rotted, Dream concentrated, ignoring the soul-deep ache that came with the overuse of magic, and -after taking a brief moment to cough up some more black gunk that was probably deadened spores, eugh- Dream shot himself towards the crack in the wall, admin magic boosting him to inhuman levels of strength as he reached a hand in to the crack and using his momentum, <i>pulled</i>. The stone wall groaned under the force and a portion of it abruptly <i>snapped</i> off, causing Dream to stumble backwards being met with a sudden lack of resistance.</p><p>His vision swam, black shapes dancing at the edges of his vision. <i>'As soon as I get to safety,'</i> Dream thought, picking himself up and then crouching down to crawl through the hole he had made, <i>'I'm going to sleep for a week.'</i></p><p>The hallway outside the room proved slightly worrying. Where Dream stood, the vines covering the walls were purple and dead, but towards the exit they faded right back into a bright crimson. Cursing under his breath, Dream continued forwards, ignoring how his body felt as if it would collapse under the slightest breeze.</p><p>Upon reaching the surface, the masked man was met with an unwelcome but familiar sensation of choking. The air was thick and red, but Dream was more focused on trying to discern the landscape around him.</p><p>The grass was dead and dying, individual roots of red snaking around and over yellow blades until the ground appeared more like mycelium than anything else. The trees had lost their leaves and were practically identical to crimson wood from the nether, glowing red veins popping out over greyed bark. How far did this go on for?</p><p>In the distance, through the scarlet haze that prevented Dream from seeing anything farther than three metres away from himself clearly, he spied a tower. It was one that had been built to facilitate faster trident transportation. Maybe the fog would be lighter if he climbed higher up?</p><p>Approaching it, trying his best not to stumble over the red ground that seemed to shift under his feet, Dream noted that the ladder had broken in places, partially due to weathering and disuse, but the red veins that hugged the structure tightly surely also played a part. Luckily, they also were great replacement handholds for any missing ladder rungs.</p><p>The air was clearer on the platform atop the tower, and the mist below looked like a thick red soup that enveloped the landscape. The tower was positioned well, and the masked man could see for miles. Eret's castle (red), Tommy's old house (red), what was left of L'manberg (redredred), the prison-</p><p>Dream stopped. </p><p>The prison.</p><p>It was covered in red vines, just as everything else was in every direction as far as the eye could see, (how was he going to escape?) But something strange had happened.</p><p>From where he stood, Dream could spy massive roots pouring out of the prison as if the interior was simply packed too full, larger than any he had ever seen before. Some were thicker than he was tall, some twice the size, but all of that paled in comparison to the display on the roof.</p><p>Hundreds of twisting roots, thousands maybe, towered over the roof of the prison, cracked pieces of obsidian and blackstone intertwined between them from where they burst out of the ceiling, all to support the largest <i>flower</i> Dream had ever seen in his life. It was so vibrant, the crimson glow it gave off in the sunlight felt as if it was scorching Dream's eyes.</p><p>"That must be where the egg went," he mumbled, not taking his gaze away from the flower where it towered, victorious, <i>mocking</i>.</p><p>He̡ c͝o͜u̢ld-</p><p>He could kill it. If he got close enough to the egg to release an explosion of magic like what he'd done to get himself out of his bindings, he could probably kill it. Stop it at the source.</p><p>It would probably kill him, too. He was exhausted.</p><p>There was a choice before him. Dream could try to escape, beaten and battered and bone-deep weary, through the forests filled with vines that let everyone infected know where he was, (he had been extremely lucky in not running into anybody yet. Where were they?) or-</p><p>or he could go ̵to͡ th̷e ̸eģg͜.͘ To kill it.</p><p>Through the thick fog below, he could spy movement. Dream told himself he felt nothing, seeing the shoulders of Tommy's shirt drained and dull as he approached.</p><p>
  <strike>(A lie)</strike>
</p><p>He made his choice.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*naenaes*</p><p>(But no, no, legit the time travel'll be happening either next chapter or ch 5 but im aiming for next im sorry im draggin this out oop-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Mistake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dream ponders things, and then fucks up severely.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey girl, im resting after escaping the egg</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He ran.</p>
<p>Of course he ran, Dream had always been <strike><i>a fucking <b>coward</b></i></strike> someone who chose his battles wisely.</p>
<p>Even before he had been burdened with admin-ship of an entire world, in the early days of his adventures where the only gods-given task that lay on his shoulder was actually fun, (calling dragon-killing 'fun' wasn't crazy, right?) he still fled worlds if he suspected that the hunters would catch him and kill him before he could kill the server's specific dragon. He knew risk and when something was way too much of it, so the only reason he hadn't ran straight to the prison, admin magic ablaze was-</p>
<p>Was because he was so, so goddamn tired, and contrary to popular belief, Dream knew his limits.</p>
<p>Hours prior, he had collapsed into a make-shift bed in the closest hideout he could find, far away from the crimson and buried deep enough in a freezing snow biome that he wouldn't have to worry about any roots finding their way to him. This hideout however, was a slight bit special. It was a stronghold.</p>
<p>Dream was hyper-aware of the fact that Technoblade's little <i>'retirement'</i> cottage was only a few hundred blocks away and above where he lay. Luckily for him, however, the Egg had never been all too interested in spreading its tendrils into the snow, even if one of its hosts hailed from a place full of it. It much prefered to keep its vassals close, something that benefitted Dream just fine.</p>
<p>The masked man let out a groan into the fabric below him as his side pulsed with a dull throb. It had been bandaged and cleaned, but he could still vividly remember the sensation of pulling out the three-inch root that had been growing into his opened wound. He couldn't even do anything right now to alleviate the pain, because painkillers were expensive to brew and he was low on nether warts.</p>
<p>His limbs felt like they were made out of lead, something that had become an increasingly familiar sensation as time went on, as Dream got into more and more fights with those possessed by the Crimson, fights where he barely survived, clinging onto freedom by the skin of his teeth, only admin magic saving him.</p>
<p>Magic. Would his magic even be able to stop the Crimson at its source now? Did it even <i>have</i> a source now? The first thought that passed through his mind upon seeing the horrifying sight that Sam's prison had morphed into was <i>'The Egg must be there'</i>, but would attacking the Egg even do something? It might have in the beginning, but now, with how far it had spread? What if the Crimson had a decentralised nervous system, like a bug? Dream barked out a hoarse laugh into his arms. Defeated by a fucking bug.</p>
<p>Dream's mind stalled, thoughts laced with sluggish exhaustion. It took genuine effort to think and yet he still couldn't sleep. He'd say that the bags under his eyes were horrible, but he hadn't looked at himself in a mirror without his mask on in weeks. Dream didn't want to admit it, but he was scared of what he would find when he eventually did.</p>
<p>The steady hum of his recovering admin magic buzzed deep inside his soul, and he knew that he couldn't ignore it forever. It had been hours already.</p>
<p>Letting out a deep groan that had elements of 'world-weary sigh' buried in it, Dream used one aching arm to push himself out of the sprawled state he had been lying in, wincing as his side spiked with pain, he turned himself over so he could at least lie on his back while examining the World Panels for any new developments in regards to the state of the World Barrier. He knew nothing had really happened, because the world hadn't been abruptly overrun with a flood of corrupted hackers and coders, but it didn't hurt to check.</p>
<p>As the purple magic sparked from his fingertips and swirled into the air, Dream noted that it only made him feel the tiniest bit more exhausted, a noticeable improvement upon when he first got his admin powers.</p>
<p>The galactic words swirled to life in front of him, and Dream blinked a few seconds before his brain started slowly translating the words before him like it was being passed through the world's most confusing cypher.</p>
<p>The World Barrier integrity remained unchanged, it had been locked at a solid eighty-six percent since he had shut it all that time ago. He kept swiping through the World Panels, glancing over the information presented to him. The Overworld was filled with corrupted code but it didn't seem to have spread much further since he last checked, swipe. The Nether had a smaller, but still noticeable amount of corrupted red text shining through the cold purple letters, swipe. The End was completely free of it, swipe, and-</p>
<p>Wait.</p>
<p>Dream blinked as his train of thought caught up to what he had just read, right before it skidded to a halt and did a 360 degree backflip off of the tracks. <i>'The End?'</i> he thought.</p>
<p>That was impossible. The End had been locked since he was first given power over this server, he couldn't use his glitched World Panels to open it, to teleport there, to do anything. The portal hadn't even worked properly when he put eyes of ender in the cold blue sockets, it had remained completely inert. When he had the chance to visit server hubs, he had even asked around. Inquired other admins during his limited time he could spend outside of his server, asked them had they ever experienced such a thing before, and- </p>
<p>He had been laughed at. People told him he either had a busted server, or that he was a shit admin. But he didn't- it wasn't his fault, he didn't choose to be saddled with managing a fucking <i>world</i>, he could barely stay in one place before that, and then he was trapped into being an admin, a curse disguised as a gift, his friends had come with him in the very least but they could always still leave and <i>abandon</i> him, they could always-</p>
<p>Dream squeezed his eyes shut as he brought a hand up to rub his temples, doing nothing to soothe the pounding in his cranium. He had gone off on a tangent, and he needed to focus. Opening his eyes once more to glare at the mocking galactic words, Dream flicked his wrist in a precise gesture as he queried the World Panel for further information. Nothing. What was he supposed to do?</p>
<p>He unsummoned the World Panels and stared up at the cracked stone brick suspended above his head. He had been wary when he discovered this stronghold at first, because the place seemed like it was going to collapse in on top of him, but Dream had gotten used to it. He traced the hairline fractures in the ceiling with his eyes. How was he going to find out what was going on with the End?</p>
<p>Dream blinked. <i>'Wait a sec.'</i></p>
<p>He blinked again. Started to wheeze out an incredulous, kettle-like laugh, uncaring of his injured side, absolutely thankful that no one was around to witness his moment of stupidity.</p>
<p>He sat upwards on the barely-a-bed that he had been lying on and stumbled to his feet, his stride growing all the more confident as he moved. He had planned on letting his side heal for a while naturally before he used any potions, if only so he wouldn't have to use a larger dose, but he found himself not caring as he chugged almost the entire bottle of a healing, because End access meant End Cities, which meant shulkers and elytras and <i>more potions than he could carry</i>. He almost fell as he slipped a shirt on over his head, but even that couldn't bring his spirits down.</p>
<p>There was an excited spring to his step as Dream practically sprinted towards his ender chest, where he kept his blaze powder and ender pearls. Slapping the two onto a crafting table and watching them combine with a white shine of light, he rushed down the halls to the portal room, practically tripping over himself and just barely avoiding bricks he knew had silverfish living in them. He didn't have the time to deal with mobs right now, a manic grin stretched across his face.</p>
<p>Hastily checking that his enchanted netherite sword was safely secured to his waist, Dream gingerly pushed the eyes into the portal sockets, the entire room almost buzzing with an unseen energy as the green-clad masked man tightened his grip around his sword handle.</p>
<p>The portal flashed a brief, blinding white before reversing, sucking in all light like a black hole, the only dots of variation in the sheet of midnight draped between the portal frames were the drifting green and blue stars that shone and twinkled with every movement Dream's eyes made. The noise the portal made as it opened was deafening, echoing through the room and down the hallways, and-</p>
<p>Dream's grip on his sword slackened as he remembered that End portal openings could be heard through an entire server. His heart raced. Fuck. <i>Fuck.</i></p>
<p>He had fucked up. He had fucked up so badly. Why was he insistent on doing it the classical way? Teleporting to the End would have drained him greatly but it was a far better option than letting the fucking <i>Crimson</i> know that there was an active End portal, because the Crimson had access to several times the manpower Dream did, more people to gather resources like shulkers and eletras and raid entire end cities-</p>
<p>Holy shit he had fucked up so <i>badly</i>. He couldn't even blame it on the pain, the potion had gotten rid of that. What could Dream even do?</p>
<p>He couldn't run. Not from the stronghold. That would be giving them the opportunity to grow their power while he was left in the overworld without any End-granted advantages.  He had to go in, he had to put distance between himself and his hunters, who were surely already crafting eyes of ender to find him, because they lead directly to strongholds and he was <i>in the middle of a fucking stronghold</i>.</p>
<p>Just like old times.</p>
<p>Dream stepped up the stone brick stairs, numb. His head felt light, the heady feeling of getting an advantage on his enemies quickly replaced by utter terror left him dizzy. He had to keep running.</p>
<p>He jumped through the portal.</p>
<p>
  <i>
    <b>Dream has made the advancement: The End?</b>
  </i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>HELP GIRL I FORGOT END PORTAL OPENING SOUNDS ARE OMNIPRESENT</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But yeah time travel next chap swear swear</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Backwards</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dream gets stuck in a glitchy end realm, the portal doesn't spawn in, and he quickly runs out of options.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Technoblade says eat the rich. Not in this chapter, just in general.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>⎓∷ᒷᒷ ᒲᒷ</p><p>For a brief moment, he was weightless, his worries lifted off of his shoulders as he was lifted off of the ground. Then it was over, and Dream came tumbling down through freezing air, slamming onto newly materialised purple-tinged obsidian, the black glass smooth under his palm, half-curled fingers and fingertips. The chill of the void breezed through him like he was made of paper, the familiar nausea from entering an end portal settled over him like a grimy second skin, but Dream shook his head as his vision cleared, and quickly brushed it off.</p><p>It truly had been a long time since he'd done anything like this, hadn't it.</p><p>A dull roar, muffled to Dream's ears yet unbearably loud echoed through the void. It vibrated all the way down to his bones, setting off something ancient, primal, a timer bearing the well-known fight-or-flight question ticking down in his chest. He bared his teeth behind the mask, clenching his fists as he pushed himself up. He had to <i>run</i>, but he would fight in order to do so. </p><p>The portal spawn wasn't in the worst of places. Exposed, but not miles distant from the centre island, the obsidian of the spawn platform was partially lodged into the pale yellow endstone, bleached and crumbling, the rest of the platform suspended unnaturally above a gaping abyss. Dream knew there would be no ground should he fall.</p><p>Vaulting over a chest-high ledge and relishing the slight strain in his arms, Dream made it onto the end island proper, eyes scanning the pitch sky for any hint of his opponent, avoiding the bright purple gaze of the tall, thin inhabitants of the isle. A sliver of purple slashed through the air before vanishing, something a less experienced man would confuse as his mind playing tricks. But Dream was the furthest thing from inexperienced.</p><p>Pulling his crossbow from its sling on his back, he aimed the tip towards the sky, firing off an arrow coated in toxins. It struck true, and the dragon <i>twisted</i>, showing off the whites of its wings as it ceased all attempts at subterfuge, writhing in anger as it roared at him, harmful purple breath spewing out into the air.</p><p>The armoured man took off running, heart pounding in his eardrums, and Dream angled himself towards the towering black glass structures that stuck out of the ground like fingers of a half-buried hand, clawed and malicious. He reloaded a bolt into his crossbow as his eyes locked onto a low tower, the floating crystal of solidified magic spinning wildly upon its tip. He had to aim well, but he was an old hat at this. Pulling the trigger, the only noise Dream heard within his bubble of concentration was the faint <i>click</i> of the trigger mechanism firing as the bolt soared true, before a riotous explosion rang out through the <i>vwoop</i>'s of endermen and the cry of the dragon. Dream let out a breath. '<i>One down,</i>' He thought, '<i>several more to go.</i>'</p><p>It repeated like that, smoothly and precise, the dragon tried to kill him when it swooped downwards to the isle, but Dream was quick in avoiding it, and the winged beast was far too large to make the swift turns required to actually give Dream trouble, having to be forced back up into the empty black sky or risk a crash. But of course, it never was easy when it came to Dream's luck. There was an issue, a slight abnormality on the edge of the end island that always gave Dream pause on the rare occasion he encountered it when he was fighting in the bottomless dimension.</p><p>A tower soared proudly above where he stood, but only half of it even touched the end island. The rest was open to the void, and the thing was too high to just try and fire a bolt up towards it, as his crossbow didn't reach that high despite the numerous enchantments inscribed upon it. He would have to climb.</p><p>Pickaxe in hand, a shining blue diamond instead of hardened netherite, he swung it into the side of the tower, lodging it deep, and began to scale the lofty pillar, throwing himself upwards with momentum from his swings. He had to act fast, Dream was a sitting duck for the dragon to swipe at, perched on the edge of the void, and while he may be confident in his ender-pearl throwing skills, the server was still set to hardcore. He didn't want to suffocate to death, not after having gotten this far, not with so much further to go.</p><p>A roar increasing in volume picked up from behind him, just as Dream threw himself bodily over the edge of the tower top, the pink and white spinning crystal only a few feet away from him. He'd die if he set it off this close, and with that thought in mind Dream gripped the shaft of his pickaxe tightly, and aimed his crossbow with one arm towards the centre of the crystal, the bolt was bound to be somewhat inaccurate but at this distance it didn't at all matter. Leaping backwards, he fired the shot, the concussive force of the resulting magical blast pushing him back further, and as he fell Dream angled towards the tower, pickaxe ready and waiting to sink into the black glass to slow his fall, the bleached yellow ground rushed towards him but Dream had control of his fall, nearing the obsidian he made to <i>slam</i> his pickaxe into the sheer glass, his arm be damned, but-</p><p>A <i>deafening</i> howl rang through the air from right behind him, so loud it made Dream involuntarily flinch, limbs drawing into himself oh-so briefly before he realised his mistake, but his fall was already getting harder to control and he was moving away from the tower-</p><p>Only to slam his back against something rough, scaled, and definitely not the ground. The dragon continued to fly through the air as Dream flipped ass-over-head rolling down it's back, hands scrambling to find purchase on the beast that was trying to kill him because the only alternative was suffocating in the void.</p><p>Fingers digging into a large crack between the dragon's ancient scales, Dream watched as his pickaxe soared past him, bouncing off of the rough dragonhide once more before plummeting into the abyss, fading out of sight. Fuck.</p><p>He wasn't given much time to think before he felt the dragon <i>writhe</i> through the air as it tried to toss him off, digging his fingers into the crack in the dragonhide, he pushed himself upwards and grabbed his sword, the blade coming down and sinking into the beast's flesh with little resistance. It roared and quickly turned course back towards the centre of the end island, Dream could barely hear the noise, the sound of his own rapid-beating heart almost deafening in his ears. Maybe he could try and jump off once it was above solid land? </p><p>Dream looked down. He could feel his face pale. '<i>Absolutely not.</i>'</p><p>The dragon continued to soar, making jerky movements to try and toss Dream off of its back, the hooded man himself barely holding on to his precarious perch. Sliding his sword out of the dragon's hide, he grimaced before he chose maintaining his position over falling to his death, and the masked man cringed as he shoved a hand into the wound for a better grip, mentally bemoaning the fact he was wearing fingerless gloves. He struck the dragon with the smooth netherite blade again, and again, slowly but surely climbing his way up the back and towards the elongated neck of the creature.</p><p>His hands were slick with purple blood, and his hoodie was sure to be absolutely <i>ruined</i> after this, dragon blood seeping through gaps in his glowing armour, but Dream didn't care. He hadn't come here for an extended fight with the dragon, he was being pursued and he had to keep up a good pace. The only issue was getting back to ground, but the admin already had a plan for that.</p><p>Easily summoning the end-like magic within his core, Dream pumped energy into his limbs, strengthening them, before he <i>shot</i> forwards, racing on all fours up the dragon's neck, a risky move to be sure, but the winged boss was directly over the end island now and if he crashed into it he had the highest chance of surviving. He reached the head of the beast and wrapped a leg around a pale horn for balance, raising his sword with both hands for leverage, before he plunged downwards into the dragon's eye, digging in deep to the purple flesh.</p><p>The creature made a noise that was truly animalistic, mouth spewing out magic dragons-breath even as it fell towards the ground, and Dream yelled in pain as the cloud of lingering mist burnt his exposed skin like acid. Curling up and shielding his vulnerable flesh, Dream held on for dear life as the dragon lost further control of its flight, tumbling towards the yellow-grey ground.</p><p>With an earth-shaking <i>THOOM</i> and the shrieks of several angry endermen forced to teleport away, the dragon hit the ground, dead. Its body began to dissolve under him, and he fell through the rapidly-vanishing corpse. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Dream stood up, eyes scanning the void sky of the end for any gateway portals sure to appear now that the dragon was dead, because he knew in his heart that he didn't have much time until the Crimson-corrupted came and tried to kill him.</p><p>He couldn't see anything, no green and blue stars, no floating bedrock. '<i>Behind a tower, then,</i>' Dream thought, taking off into a light jog to scan around the obsidian pillars.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>He checked another time, maybe he had missed it? The centre portal was lit but he definitely couldn't take that because it would bring him back to spawn and spawn was entirely corrupted, a trap waiting to happen. Desperate, he scaled another obsidian tower to try and get a better vantage point. Still, nothing.</p><p>He was starting to panic, limbs tense in a way even the dragon fight couldn't achieve, because he was used to that but now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, with nowhere to go. Frantic, he returned to the centre portal, and drew up the World Panels.</p><p>Drawing from the ambient end magic around them, the displays cost him no personal energy, and Dream squinted at the galactic text scrawled across them for a moment before it began to blur into a more recognisable language. With the exception of a few, odd lines.</p><p>The translated text was the usual information presented in a World Panel, data on his surroundings, the state of the server, the players online, but it was the text that remained in galactic that confused Dream. Furrowing his brows, he set his mouth into a line as he tried translating it himself, with his rusty grasp on the language.</p><p>ᒷ ̇/!¡ᒷ∷╎ᒲᒷリℸ ̣ ᔑꖎ ⊣ᒷリᒷ∷ᔑꖎ ⊣⚍╎↸ᒷ: ᒷ.⊣.⊣, ᔑ↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ ᔑᓵᓵᒷᓭᓭ ᔑᓵᓵᒷ!¡ℸ ̣ ᒷ↸</p><p>It was… something about an egg, and administrator access? What?</p><p>Tapping in further to the befuddling text, Dream slowly had an easier time reading the glowing purple text, his mind rustily conjuring up translations. Soon enough he was fairly sure he had a grasp on what it was saying.</p><p><i><b>《Error》</b></i> it read, <i><b>《Severe data corruption detected within server: emergency quarantine protocols engaged: world barrier frozen》</b></i></p><p>
  <i>'What?'</i>
</p><p>
  <i>
    <b>《Please input administration code》</b>
  </i>
</p><p>He didn't- Dream didn't know what the hell an 'administration code' was. Was this another thing he just hadn't been told about by the Gods of the realms when he had been assigned adminship against his will? Was he supposed to have been a joke? Was he-</p><p>Squeezing his eyes shut, Dream tampered down on the familiar ember of anger that came with his own reminders of what led to this situation. Tapping on the World Panel, he queried the system for further information. Maybe it was something he knew about, just phrased oddly?</p><p>Complying with his request, the system responded in what was probably the least helpful way possible. <i><b>《Please input administration code to alter world barrier integrity and contact higher authorities. Alternatively: engage in system-specific reset. ERROR: SYSTEM ENCOMPASSES MULTIPLE SERVERS. ERROR: OPTION UNLOCKED DESPITE LACK OF INPUTTED CREDENTIALS. Pleaᓭᒷ conℸ ̣ᔑᓵ a↸ᒲ╎リ╎ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑtor.》</b></i></p><p>Dream honestly had no fucking idea what any of that meant. He tried repeatedly to get more information out of the thing talking to the world panels- the dragon egg, he realised. He had to collect dragon eggs way back during his manhunt days, something about them being extremely good with altering code? Dream hadn't paid any attention, he was the guy gathering them and killing the dragons, getting hunted all the while, not the entity behind the screen, using the eggs to help patch up issues and eventually bring around a whole update. He probably should have listened to what was available.</p><p>Passing the 'system-reset' off as a dire-sounding last resort, Dream moved his attention towards why the end gateways hadn't spawned in. The code almost swam in front of his eyes and they desperately raked over line after line, the green-cloaked man unable to find anything that explained why he had nowhere to run to.</p><p>After only minutes of trying -still precious time wasted- Dream dropped his head into his hands and <i>screamed</i>. An enderman nearby rapidly teleported away in fright, but the armoured admin paid no heed. What could he do, what could he <i>do?</i></p><p>His mind ran around in circles as his tensed hands tugged at the hair falling over his mask, fingers buried in the messy nest under his hood, pressed up against his scalp. His mind ran in circles, every beat of his heart and blink of his eyes another second lost, less and less time to work out an escape route to flee from his pursuers.</p><p>Desperate, he reached for the World Panels again, eldritch text buzzing through his mind. System reset was vague, it was incredibly vague. Maybe it meant resetting the end island? Force a portal to the outer islands to spawn? His finger hovered over the text, indecisive.</p><p>He realised that none of this would have happened had <i>he</i> not been assigned admin in the server. Someone like Sam, or Bad before the egg? They would have quarantined the place instantly, but he waited for a development because he was getting <i>bored</i>, because fucking around with Tommy and L'manberg and <i>everyone</i> was much more interesting than paying attention to an abnormal red thing in an abnormal server. It was all his fault.</p><p>Everyone would probably be better off if he never existed in the first place.</p><p>Through the (relative) silence of the end, Dream barely heard the noise of more people crossing the barrier. The endermen's occasional <i>vwoop</i>'s almost drowned it out.</p><p>What he <i>did</i> hear clearly, however, was the rush of multiple pairs of footsteps stomping over endstone. He whipped his head over towards the noise, mind racing with non-feasible escape routes, only to physically recoil when he saw the sheer amount of infected <strike>friends</strike> bull-rushing him, Bad in the lead with a <i>nasty</i> snarl on his face, not even partially concealed by the black-and-white hood he wore. The enchanted netherite blade in his hands was raised to strike as soon as he got close enough.</p><p>Dream's heart stopped as everything slowed down. He watched as techno, standing only a short distance behind Bad, raised a crossbow with a blue-and-<i>not-red</i> firework loaded into it. He had no choice.</p><p>He sent a pulse of magic through his fingertip, slamming down on the system-reset option. He could only hope it did something.</p><p>Dream <i>howled</i> in agony as everything went <i>white</i> and the universe itself collapsed around him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*slowly applies clown makeup* ahaha i know i said i was gonna write another chapter of BDA before this but uh-</p><p>Also! Thats it. Thats the Timed Travel. Hes in the past next chapter, yes yes. I have no clue what the hell Im doing.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you notice any errors in spelling or grammar, feel free to point them out because god knows I can't read.</p><p> </p><p>(I'll try to update my fics as often as i can, school sucks :^(. ALSO!!!!! Comments give me life! The Validation,,, bro,,,)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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